"She's smart, direct and persuasive in her advocacy."
Sarah has a wide-ranging and successful public law practice which spans Matrix’s core areas. Sarah’s work encompasses public, planning, environmental, education, local government, election, rating and discrimination law.
Her experience covers the appellate courts at all levels including the Supreme Court. She also regularly appears at planning inquiries. Sarah specialises in High Court/JR work acting for claimants and public bodies alike. Notable clients include the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, Mayor of London, Liberty, Friends of the Earth and Shelter.
As a member of the Attorney General’s B Panel since 2020, Sarah is regularly instructed by the Government. Sarah is a member of the EHRC Panel of Counsel. She is committed to publicly funded work and in appropriate cases acts pro bono.
Sarah is recognised in the major legal directories: in Legal 500 Sarah is ranked as a leading junior in Public, Environmental, Planning and Local Government Law and in Chambers and Partners as a leading practitioner in Planning, Election and Rating Law. Sarah is described as:
“A highly talented public lawyer, she is very bright and has particular strength in dealing with complex tactical issues.”
Sarah holds an LLM from Harvard University. She is a visiting lecturer at the London School of Economics Cities Programme where she teaches a graduate seminar on ‘Law and the City’. She also teaches at the UCL Bartlett School and has published widely in academic and practitioner texts.
Currently advising HMRC on impact of Covid-19 on business rates and instructed in:
Education:
Teaching & Advocacy
Memberships
Sarah is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. In order to provide legal services to her clients, including advice and representation services, Sarah needs to collect and hold personal data. This includes her client’s personal data and the personal data of others who feature in the matter upon which she is instructed. To read Sarah’s privacy notice in full, please see here.
"Sarah is great to work with. She is excellent with clients and has a really good sense of public law issues." "Sarah is good on her feet."
"Sarah is a fantastically energetic, creative and committed barrister. She really fights for her clients and is super on her feet."
"A junior who is well-versed in election law."
"She is tenacious, she brings a lot of energy to the team and she provides good legal strategy."
"Sarah has a very strong knowledge and understanding of local government. She is very practical and sensible in her approach."
"Sarah’s passion for her work is unprecedented. She attends community meetings and team meetings, advises on strategy, on planning appeal and application, breaches of equalities law, and has excellent knowledge and presentation skills."
"Sarah is very approachable and easy to work with. She really gets to the nub of the issue."
"Sarah is very good at going through case law. She writes really well and produces great skeleton arguments."" ""She has strength of depth in rating and valuation matters." "Sarah is very approachable, which clients like. She's very modern and easy to work with."
"She really understands planning law, including the wider social implications, and she provides amazing detail in her analysis."" ""She is very good; extremely lively, vivacious and creative." "Her preparation for trial, along with her technical skills and client handling, are really good."
"She has lots of ideas and is a great, creative public lawyer." "She does really good preparation for trials and has good client-handling skills. She is very good technically and has a lot of empathy with clients."
"Sarah is extremely bright and very approachable and gets on very well with clients." "She is creative, highly intelligent, and is absolutely fearless."" ""Sarah is fully committed to delivering the best result for the client. She grasps complicated facts and history quickly, she assimilates into the team really well and is a brilliant advocate."
"Sarah is a strong advocate with a wide range of experience across this and other areas of public law."
"Sarah is really good with clients - personable, empathetic, warm. She writes well and has done great work on cases we have done together, marshalling complex facts and legal arguments."
"A proper claimant's lawyer, she is pragmatic as well as having an eye on the detail and is great at thinking outside the box."
"Sarah is great to work with, approachable, and when instructed slots in seamlessly as part of the local authority team. She is extremely knowledgeable on planning and local government law, and is a brilliant advocate, both in written advice and on her feet."
“She is a very able advocate with very good judgement.”
"She has a broad practice and covers a lot of local government work." "A very clear and compelling advocate."
"She is very approachable, easy to work with and really gets to the nub of the issue."
“Sarah is a very good lawyer, who is very knowledgeable.” “Very bright and has a broad public law practice.”
"Sarah has a particular strength in planning and a real feel for how the planning system works in practice. She knows the law well."
"Sarah has a really good feel for local government law. She combines strong public law expertise with a very solid understanding of how local authorities work in practice."
"Sarah is an impressive, energetic counsel who is politically engaged and loves a challenge. A big personality and great to have on a team."
"She's a hard-working, creative and effective barrister." "She's enthusiastic, bright, organised and good on paper."
"She's smart, direct and persuasive in her advocacy." "A good performer in court."
"Sarah's written advice is very thorough and clear, and she is a confident and articulate advocate." "She's great to work with."
"Approachable and good both on paper and on her feet."
"She is very bright, with good legal knowledge, and a particular strength in dealing with complex tactical issues."
"Sarah is highly driven and motivated. She is a great junior who is really excellent to work with. She is extremely knowledgeable and writes very clearly and concisely. She is also great with the clients and at dealing with practical matters."
"One to watch. She is developing a formidable practice in planning law and public law more generally. Her strengths appear to lie in High Court challenges, acting (often successfully) for the underdog. She’s extremely approachable and great with clients, who appreciate who can-do attitude, and honesty."
"One of the best of her generation, she has very strong interpersonal skills and great legal creativity."
"She's very flexible at adapting to an unfolding situation and firm in here own views as well. She is also very good at working in a team and taking a collegiate approach." "Very reassuring and approachable for clients."
"She stays calm when the pressure is on."
"She's very good, she knows her stuff, is very good with clients and writes very well."
"A very thorough strategic grasp and a light touch" "she's very good with clients".
"An extremely thorough, confident and competent advocate. Sources predict a fine future for her."
"She's smart, direct and persuasive in her advocacy."
Chambers & Partners 2021
Contact Sarah: sarahsackman@matrixlaw.co.uk | +44 (0)20 7404 3447
Contact Sarah's Practice Team (Team X): TeamX@matrixlaw.co.uk
Sarah has a wide-ranging and successful public law practice which spans Matrix’s core areas. Sarah’s work encompasses public, planning, environmental, education, local government, election, rating and discrimination law.
Her experience covers the appellate courts at all levels including the Supreme Court. She also regularly appears at planning inquiries. Sarah specialises in High Court/JR work acting for claimants and public bodies alike. Notable clients include the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, Mayor of London, Liberty, Friends of the Earth and Shelter.
As a member of the Attorney General’s B Panel since 2020, Sarah is regularly instructed by the Government. Sarah is a member of the EHRC Panel of Counsel. She is committed to publicly funded work and in appropriate cases acts pro bono.
Sarah is recognised in the major legal directories: in Legal 500 Sarah is ranked as a leading junior in Public, Environmental, Planning and Local Government Law and in Chambers and Partners as a leading practitioner in Planning, Election and Rating Law. Sarah is described as:
“A highly talented public lawyer, she is very bright and has particular strength in dealing with complex tactical issues.”
Sarah holds an LLM from Harvard University. She is a visiting lecturer at the London School of Economics Cities Programme where she teaches a graduate seminar on ‘Law and the City’. She also teaches at the UCL Bartlett School and has published widely in academic and practitioner texts.
Currently advising HMRC on impact of Covid-19 on business rates and instructed in:
Education:
Teaching & Advocacy
Memberships
Sarah is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. In order to provide legal services to her clients, including advice and representation services, Sarah needs to collect and hold personal data. This includes her client’s personal data and the personal data of others who feature in the matter upon which she is instructed. To read Sarah’s privacy notice in full, please see here.
"Sarah is great to work with. She is excellent with clients and has a really good sense of public law issues." "Sarah is good on her feet."
"Sarah is a fantastically energetic, creative and committed barrister. She really fights for her clients and is super on her feet."
"A junior who is well-versed in election law."
"She is tenacious, she brings a lot of energy to the team and she provides good legal strategy."
"Sarah has a very strong knowledge and understanding of local government. She is very practical and sensible in her approach."
"Sarah’s passion for her work is unprecedented. She attends community meetings and team meetings, advises on strategy, on planning appeal and application, breaches of equalities law, and has excellent knowledge and presentation skills."
"Sarah is very approachable and easy to work with. She really gets to the nub of the issue."
"Sarah is very good at going through case law. She writes really well and produces great skeleton arguments."" ""She has strength of depth in rating and valuation matters." "Sarah is very approachable, which clients like. She's very modern and easy to work with."
"She really understands planning law, including the wider social implications, and she provides amazing detail in her analysis."" ""She is very good; extremely lively, vivacious and creative." "Her preparation for trial, along with her technical skills and client handling, are really good."
"She has lots of ideas and is a great, creative public lawyer." "She does really good preparation for trials and has good client-handling skills. She is very good technically and has a lot of empathy with clients."
"Sarah is extremely bright and very approachable and gets on very well with clients." "She is creative, highly intelligent, and is absolutely fearless."" ""Sarah is fully committed to delivering the best result for the client. She grasps complicated facts and history quickly, she assimilates into the team really well and is a brilliant advocate."
"Sarah is a strong advocate with a wide range of experience across this and other areas of public law."
"Sarah is really good with clients - personable, empathetic, warm. She writes well and has done great work on cases we have done together, marshalling complex facts and legal arguments."
"A proper claimant's lawyer, she is pragmatic as well as having an eye on the detail and is great at thinking outside the box."
"Sarah is great to work with, approachable, and when instructed slots in seamlessly as part of the local authority team. She is extremely knowledgeable on planning and local government law, and is a brilliant advocate, both in written advice and on her feet."
“She is a very able advocate with very good judgement.”
"She has a broad practice and covers a lot of local government work." "A very clear and compelling advocate."
"She is very approachable, easy to work with and really gets to the nub of the issue."
“Sarah is a very good lawyer, who is very knowledgeable.” “Very bright and has a broad public law practice.”
"Sarah has a particular strength in planning and a real feel for how the planning system works in practice. She knows the law well."
"Sarah has a really good feel for local government law. She combines strong public law expertise with a very solid understanding of how local authorities work in practice."
"Sarah is an impressive, energetic counsel who is politically engaged and loves a challenge. A big personality and great to have on a team."
"She's a hard-working, creative and effective barrister." "She's enthusiastic, bright, organised and good on paper."
"She's smart, direct and persuasive in her advocacy." "A good performer in court."
"Sarah's written advice is very thorough and clear, and she is a confident and articulate advocate." "She's great to work with."
"Approachable and good both on paper and on her feet."
"She is very bright, with good legal knowledge, and a particular strength in dealing with complex tactical issues."
"Sarah is highly driven and motivated. She is a great junior who is really excellent to work with. She is extremely knowledgeable and writes very clearly and concisely. She is also great with the clients and at dealing with practical matters."
"One to watch. She is developing a formidable practice in planning law and public law more generally. Her strengths appear to lie in High Court challenges, acting (often successfully) for the underdog. She’s extremely approachable and great with clients, who appreciate who can-do attitude, and honesty."
"One of the best of her generation, she has very strong interpersonal skills and great legal creativity."
"She's very flexible at adapting to an unfolding situation and firm in here own views as well. She is also very good at working in a team and taking a collegiate approach." "Very reassuring and approachable for clients."
"She stays calm when the pressure is on."
"She's very good, she knows her stuff, is very good with clients and writes very well."
"A very thorough strategic grasp and a light touch" "she's very good with clients".
"An extremely thorough, confident and competent advocate. Sources predict a fine future for her."